Danny Michel plays Khlebnikov Presented by Ottawa Chamberfest and Canada SceneWhen: Sunday, July 23, 10 p.m. Where: De La Salle High School, 501 Old St. Patrick St. Tickets: $30, available at chamberfest.com

The latest album by Canadian singer-songwriter Danny Michel was conceived, written and recorded last summer during an 18-day excursion aboard the Russian icebreaker, Kapitain Khlebnikov, as it powered through the Northwest passage. He talks to Lynn Saxberg about the life-changing experience.

Q: Tell me about the trip that inspired the Khlebnikov album.

A: It was a cool project. Chris Hadfield, the astronaut, invited about a dozen people from around the world he liked — artists, photographers, authors, poets, and I was the music guy. What he asked us to do was experience this adventure aboard a Russian icebreaker in the Arctic, and then come back and share it with the world however we wanted.

Q: You probably could have gotten away with writing one or two songs. What prompted you to tackle an entire album while you were on board?

A: I thought, “I’m on there for 18 days, why don’t I try to make a real big project out of this?” I challenged myself to try and write an entire album, and to record it while I was on the ship. I really kind of bit off more than I could chew. I went with nothing, and the first three or four days, I didn’t even touch a guitar. All I did was sink into living on a ship in the Arctic, getting in the zone.

Q: And? What was that like?

A: It’s amazing. I really loved it. It was so beautiful. Every window you looked out was breathtaking at all times — for 18 days. It was funny how something so beautiful just became normal. On day 15, you’re like, “Oh yeah, humpback whales swimming around the glaciers again, whatever.”

Q: Was it a challenge to pack for recording?

A: Well, we were in this tight shared cabin so we weren’t allowed to bring much. I had two guitars. Luckily in this modern world, we can record pretty great with computers and a small amount of equipment. I bought two really good microphones and a laptop and was able to do some nice recordings. So I recorded all the guitar and vocals on the ship. Then I brought that back and handed the recording off to my buddy, Rob Carli, who is a film composer. He arranged the songs and we added strings and brass.

Q: Was engine noise a factor?

A: We did pretty good. I laugh because I had all our bathrobes and towels hung around to make sound baffles. I managed to get it to be pretty isolated. And I did it mostly the middle of the day when my roommate was gone.

Q: How did the Russian influence find its way into the music?

A: Well, I just figured, how could it not leak into it? I was living with a Russian crew on this Russian ship. Chris (Hadfield) speaks Russian so he sings a song on the record in Russian, and I got some of the dishwashers after drinking a bit of vodka to sing on the record.

Q: You’ve said the experience changed your life. How?

A: It’s still hard for me to even process. To go to a corner of the planet that so few humans get to go to, and to experience the vastness of it, and how far away it is, and to be pretty much at the North Pole, it was a heavy experience. And to see the way people live up there. They live the exact same way they lived 500 years ago. They have no modern technology. No cell service, no internet, no phones.

Q: No internet! What was that like for the artists?

A: We were all pretty nervous or worried about how we’d do but after about a week, we all started talking about how much we loved it and how much we realized how addicted we are to it. We’ve all gone to a cottage for the weekend and had no phone for two days, but with 18 days, you realize you live a different way. Your patterns are different. Two weeks into the trip, I felt more in the moment. I felt I was having real conversations with people. It kinda felt like it did when I was a kid again.

Q: You’ve only performed the music live a few times so far. Why?

A: It’s a hard record to perform. If I play it by myself, I’m missing all those strings and horns. That’s why we’re so excited to be performing it in its entirety with a string quartet and a brass ensemble in Ottawa.

Q: How do you follow up a record like that?

A: I think you don’t. I’m going to have to go back to making the normal kind of records I always make. To me, it’s been a really cool, one-off, neat project. I’ve done other projects like that, like when I went to Belize and made a Belizean record with a Belizean band. I always try to throw these interesting things in between making my own normal record.s Now it feels like it’s time for a normal record again, and then I’ll do something really weird again.

Q: What would you say was the biggest thing you took away from the adventure that you want people to know?

A: Just how beautiful and incredible our world is, and our planet, and how much it needs to be respected and enjoyed. People need to get off their computers and get outside and hike in the woods or go to the Arctic or go to the desert and or even just go the park. Let’s enjoy this incredible place we live in.

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